In the 1980s, he served for over four years under United States Secretary of the Navy John Lehman as special assistant for legal and legislative affairs.

Over the course of this weekend, more than 100 Navy and United States Marine Corps aviation officers sexually assaulted 87 women and seven men, or otherwise engaged in "improper and indecent" conduct.

[4] As a result, Garrett re-opened the investigation under Derek J. Vander Schaaf, the Inspector General of the United States Department of Defense.

Vander Schaaf concluded that the initial investigation had been a coverup more concerned with protecting the reputation of the navy than with discovering the role of high-ranking officers in the scandal.

[4] After leaving the navy, Gordon took a job at Litton Industries as Vice President for Washington Operations, overseeing the company's interactions with all branches of government.

From 2007, he was a senior fellow at the Potomac Institute for Policy Studies, where he sat on the board of regents[5] Gordon died on 22 January 2023 in Trappe, Maryland, and was buried at Arlington National Cemetery.